Bao Er Café Opens New $200K Fortune Centre Outlet With Exclusive Dishes & Hip Decor
Popular kaya toast and Hokkien mee specialist Bao Er Café is opening yet another outlet, this time at Fortune Centre. Owner Jeremy Tan, 40, tells 8days.sg the latest branch in his ever-expanding brand is set to open on 1 December.
If you’ve been following Jeremy and his wife, Bao Er, since their humble Balestier Plaza beginnings, this will be their third outlet under the Bao Er Café banner. The brand built its following on airily light, crispy toast slathered with super lemak house-made kaya and wok hei-packed Hokkien mee. The couple also run sister brand Treasure Toast, which opened last year at Purvis Street.
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Why Fortune Centre?
Just six months after debuting a more polished outlet in hip Holland Village, an upgrade from their no-frills eatery at musty Balestier Plaza, Bao Er Café is now heading back into an old-school mall for their next chapter. Why Fortune Centre, which admittedly, is quite the foodie gem with good Japanese bakeries and izakayas but has a drab, stuck-in-the-’80s vibe?
Photo: Yip Jieying
New location, new partner
Turns out, the opportunity came from a new partner Jeremy is collaborating with for this outlet. While he still co-runs Treasure Toast and the Holland Village outlet with his childhood friend, Jeremy Wong, 40, owner of the optical chain W Optics, this time he’s teaming up with Alan Ang, 45, whom he met at bible study class.
“Alan co-owns multiple F&B brands, such as [Taiwanese eatery] Eat 3 Bowls and Super Sushi, and he managed to secure a unit at Fortune Centre,” Jeremy says. They decided to join forces: Alan handles finance and operations, while Jeremy oversees the kitchen.
A fresh new look
Even though their Holland Village outlet and Treasure Toast already sport a more modern look, the Fortune Centre outlet marks a new phase for the brand.
“This time we did extensive planning to come up with a consistent branding for Bao Er Café that we’ll use when we [eventually] expand further,” Jeremy shares. “We concentrated a lot on the design, and we’ve got uniforms for the staff as well.”
New dishes to try
At this new outlet, Bao Er Café is introducing new dishes exclusive to Fortune Centre, such as stir-fried beef hor fun, black pepper pasta, and house-made peanut butter toast.
“These are only exclusive to Fortune Centre at the moment but we’ll see how the response is. If they’re popular, we’ll probably roll them out at other outlets too,” says Jeremy.
But don’t worry, their signature dishes aren’t going anywhere. Fans can still expect the usual hokkien mee, kaya toast, and economic bee hoon. Prices will be similar to the Holland Village outlet, where the Hokkien mee goes for $8.80 and the kaya toast set costs $6.
Opening hours depend on the night crowd
Jeremy is aiming to operate from 8am to 9pm daily but things could change. “It depends on the night crowd,” he says. “If it doesn’t make sense to open until 9pm, we’ll cut it back to 8am to 8pm.”
Balestier currently closes at 8pm and Holland Village at 8.30pm, while Treasure Toast at Purvis Street stays open till 10pm.
Photo: Google/CK C
Invested $200K at new outlet
While rent at Fortune Centre isn’t as high as at Holland Village or Purvis Street, Jeremy says it’s still “considered quite high because the unit is small.” And despite the lower rent, the team actually invested more here than they did at Holland Village.
“For Holland, we invested $150K, but at Fortune Centre, we invested about $200K,” he reveals. “We’re taking over a dessert shop at Fortune Centre so we had to completely renovate the place as it was a bare unit, whereas we just took over a lot of things in Holland.”
Jeremy previously shared with 8days.sg that the Holland Village unit had been left behind after its previous tenants, a mala hotpot shop, abruptly vacated without notice, which allowed Bao Er Café to move in with minimal renovation.
How’s biz at the other outlets?
Jeremy shares that business at the other outlets remains steady. “Of course the initial hype died down, so sales dropped. But we’re fortunate to be able to maintain our sales and not lose money,” he shares. He adds that the Balestier branch sees consistent crowds, while Holland Village is busier on weekends.
Business at Treasure Toast slow
As for sister brand Treasure Toast, Jeremy admits business has been a bit more challenging. “Business at Purvis Street was not bad until the hungry ghost month started. Since then, we haven’t recovered back to normal, so Treasure Toast might lose a little, but the other outlets are still okay,” he says.
Addressing complaints about inconsistent quality across Bao Er’s outlets
Some customers have remarked on inconsistencies in the quality of stir-fried dishes like the Hokkien mee across outlets. How will they address this, especially since they plan to open even more Bao Er outlets?
Jeremy says they’re already working on it: “Last time, we did the seasoning on the spot, but now we prepare pre-portioned seasoning packs at Balestier and send them to the outlets to ensure consistency.”
Heartland malls next on the agenda
If things go well at their new Fortune Centre branch? “We’re looking at expanding Bao Er into larger, full-fledged malls like Waterway Point and Northpoint City. My partner Alan has strong [expertise and presence] in those areas, so I’ll leave it to him,” Jeremy reveals.
Bao Er Café Fortune Centre opens 1 Dec at #02-06 Fortune Centre, 190 Middle Rd, S188979. Open daily 8am-9pm. More info via Instagram.
Photos: Bao Er Café, Florence Fong, Treasure Toast
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